I got an email once but the general consensus I see online is that whatever company contacts your ISP provider, who does not disclose your identity to that company, and it's the ISP provider who then sends you something threatening but will just throttle your connection if they're contacted again by a company. So you're probably still safe legally unless you're doing something more than just stealing Beauty and the Beast for your own personal use.

A vpn is maybe 50 euros per year I think, so the amount of stuff you can download with it is still very much worth it. Also, I'm no tech expert, it's just a program you download, install and run.

I stopped downloading music since most of the things I listen to is available on spotify but movies and TV shows I still torrent. But I live in the outback of the world so...not really concerned about legal action.

there are free vpns guys. sometimes that means they're no good but there are some decent ones

The Man certainly didn't seem to mind when I downloaded Cocteau's 1946 film of that name!

But overall better safe than sorry. Wasn't there some story about a kid who had his life ruined because he downloaded a Nirvana song off Napster?

It also depends on where you are, what's your living situation etc. The guy who downloaded a new season of Rick and Morty was living in subsidized housing provided to postdocs and was understandably freaked out by the possibility of being penalized by the institution that hosted him cause who knows what the rules are.

https://movieposters2.com/images/660218-b.jpg

ronin (1998, john frankenheimer)

Plot is convoluted and utterly pointless but the chase scenes are so textbook good they're almost comic. Reinstated Frankenheimer to the director A list after years of absence. But it's gorgeous fluff.

Some "international movie" oscar noms:

Drive my car - Ryusuke Hamaguchi (2021) (Japan)

To me it seemed like a not very well acted and trite movie masquerading as something more profound by taking things real slow (3h runtime) and connecting itself to Chekhov. Hidetoshi Nishijima is certainly very pleasant to look at, even if he has trouble emoting. 6/10

The Worst Person in the World - Joachim Trier (2021) (Norway)

It's a movie about a woman who doesn't know what she wants that ends with her not knowing what she wants. In the meantime she fights for her right not to know what she wants and strings along a few people while doing it (hence the title). It's like spending 2h in conversation with someone who is not on the same wavelength with you. There's lots of thoughts and emotions which should have an impact if you relate to the characters, which I didn't. 6.5/10

Flee - Jonas Poher Rasmussen (2021) (Denmark)

I think this is the first movie I've seen which addresses what the refugee experience is like. It's devastating (but thankfully has a happy ending). 8.5/10

Licorice pizza - Paul Thomas Anderson (2021)

Another Oscar contender that I don't get. Headed by two ok actors who were cast mostly because they're famous people (Haim because she's a part of Haim and Hoffman because he's the son of Phillip Seymour) and featuring a host of pointless and graceless famous cameos, it also features some offensive stereotypes (as kinda explained by Anderson, because that's how people were in those days!). Also, it's a love story between a grown woman and an underage boy, which is not only weird but illegal. But aside from that, nice costumes and music. 6/10.

You should watch Red Rocket.

Last one I saw was There Will be Blood. It was my third or fourth time viewing.

Most actors are cast because they're famous people.

Actors. You're thinking of actors acting in a movie.

You mean the ignorant white guy talking to his Japanese wife who was viewed by the characters of the film as a racist moron? Here's some other movies with racist characters...

American History X
Django Unchained
Roots
12 Years a Slave
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
In the Heat of the Night
Gran Torino
White Men Can't Jump
Do the Right Thing

I'll agree it was definitely a bit weird at the end. I didn't like the ending, actually. To be fair, she spent the entire movie repelling his advances.